There are several methods for producing colored glass, which are by ion exchange, particle deposition, or sputtering. The ion exchange method comprises coating a glass surface with silver or copper in the form of an inorganic salt thereof and then calcining the coated glass such that ultrafine particles of silver or copper infiltrate into a glass substrate and develop a transparent colloid coloration therein. The particle deposition method comprises coating the glass substrate with a metal alkoxide solution containing gold ions and then heat treating the coated substrate, thereby precipitating gold fine particles. The sputtering method comprises forming a metal film on the glass substrate by deposition.
On the other hand, there are several conventional methods for forming a sunlight-absorbing colored film on a glass substrate. Such methods include pyrolysis method, sol-gel method, and sputtering method, which are designed to form the film from a transition metal oxide such as cobalt oxide, manganese oxide, copper oxide, iron oxide, chromium oxide, or cerium oxide, individually or as the respective composite oxide.
The above-described colored film does not possess all of the coloring performance, solar energy shielding performance, and ultraviolet (hereinafter referred to as "UV") light absorbing performance. JP-A-6-191896 (The term "JP-A" used herein means an "unexamined published Japanese patent application") discloses a glass article coated with a colored film containing silicon oxide, titanium oxide, and gold fine particles, with the preferred composition of 85-3% by weight of TiO.sub.2, 40-0% by weight of SiO.sub.2 and 5-60% by weight of Au. However, this colored film-coated glass article is not satisfactory. If the TiO.sub.2 content is small in the above-described range, UV light shielding performance is not sufficient. On the other hand, if the TiO.sub.2 content is increased, high UV light shielding performance is obtained and coloration of from blue to pink is obtained, but transmitted light color tint, UV light transmittance, and visible light transmittance cannot be freely controlled.